More from N.O.

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  Kirk

  July 27, 2172, 2:27 am

  Be honest, the reason that most white people (and tourists in general, to some degree) go visit NO is because of Mardi Gras and the notion that it'll be an opportunity for them to get drunk and laid and generally act like a fool. Most people aren't smart enough to even think about going for the sorts of reasons you'e touching on.
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  Ben

  July 27, 2173, 2:27 am

  I just selfishly get upset thinking that I won't be able to repeat my one great New Orleans experience. I was walking in the Quarter and heard somebody playin' B.B. King in one of the bars. So I went in to get a drink and it wasn't somebody playing B.B. King, it was B.B. King playing at the bar. No marquee, no fanfare, not even a cover. Just the man. Where else does that happen?
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  Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction

  July 27, 2174, 2:27 am

  New Orleans' mystique is built upon the contributions and culture of the black community FOR OVER 300 YEARS!!!! Hell, many aspects American music as we know it got it start in Congo Square by the slaves in the city (also the birth of the second line, read your history).. Some of the earliest benchmarks of the civil rights movement (folks, the movement was goin on in America at least a whole century before Rosa Parks stayed put)...happened in New Orleans. New Orleans without black folk will be bland, and a bland New Orleans will crumble...
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  Big Walt

  July 27, 2175, 2:27 am

  I know this might sound kind of dumb, but looking at the conditions Black people and most poor people lived in in NO in general, can we blame them for leaving? Oh and one of the questions on my government test on Thursday is "Considering the current situation in New Orleans, could a dictatorship be better than a democracy in some situations?" Just some food for thought. No one would ever blame someone for leaving New Orleans. People have been doing so pretty consistently for more than the last half-century. But the question is what the science is of not letting people come back. As for your question, there have been many historical examples of successful dictators.
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  Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction

  July 27, 2176, 2:27 am

  The conditions of Black people in New Orleans is being kind of skewed in mainstream press. Yes, Whoadieland is/was 2/3 black..but not all of them lived in the ever-decreasing projects.. New Orleans, since it's inception, has had a very large and very prominent black middle class. Heck poor black people been under seige in the N.O. That nice shiny Super Wal-Mart they built uptown by the river...well that's where the St. Thomas projects were...The Fisher been closed down and razed. Gentrification in the N.O...as well as other Louisiana cities has been going on for a minute...it's nothing new But don't believe that all black folk in the N.O. are poor. If you don't believe me, ask the guy with his name on this here web site. Historically prominent, but I'm not sure about quantitatively. The thing about Louisiana on the whole is the dearth of any middle classes, let alone black. Haves and have nots, baby. But I surely spent about three years in love with a middle class black woman from New Orleans, so I know the middle class exists.
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  Kirk

  July 27, 2177, 2:27 am

  The notion of a "successful" dictator really depends on how you define the word success. Dictators can be successful in the "getting stuff done" sense, primarily because they don't face the bureaucratic resistance and red tape that would normally be found in a more democratic structure. The presumed tradeoff is that civil liberties and economic development don't always follow. In the case of NO, a dictator would likely be more adept at getting buildings rebuilt and roads repaired, but actually making it a place that people would want to live is another story entirely. And that doesn't even take corruption into account.
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  ladyb

  July 27, 2178, 2:27 am

  Help me out. Did more than 1/2 of the 2/3rds live in the lower 9th? If the answer is no, then we know that at least some people "can" go back... The question is whether they want to, particularly after experiencing life (school, etc.) in other cities. On a related note, i hope they at least bring back the drive through daiquiri king...